Boy Scout Leaders Vote to Allow Gay Youth

Scouts for Equality founder Zach Wahls discusses the decision by the Boy Scouts of America to vote to allow gay youths as members but continue a ban on adult scout leaders.

The decision, which came after a vote Thursday of some 1,400 Scout leaders, had been seen as a litmus test for how much the nation has shifted its views on gay people and their role in society.

More than 61% of the leaders gathered for their annual meeting voted in support of a proposal floated last month by Scouts officials. That proposal, a compromise that angered some on both sides, opened Scouting's membership to gay youth but not gay adults in staff or volunteer leadership roles.

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Members of Scouts for Equality rallied for inclusion of gays in the Boy Scouts on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., ahead of the leadership's vote.
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"While people have different opinions about this policy, we can all agree that kids are better off when they are in Scouting," the organization said in a statement. The ban lifts on Jan. 1, 2014.

At meetings that began Wednesday at Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, participants said leaders engaged in spirited debate. The positions leaders shared were often split along geographic lines, participants said, with leaders from the Northeast supporting an end to the ban and those from the South arguing to keep it in place.

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On Thursday afternoon, in a ballroom carpeted with images of horseshoes and cattle, National President Wayne M. Perry opened an envelope with the results of the blind vote, reading aloud the decision to thousands of Scouts leaders and volunteers. That was followed by applause.

The vote by a group that claims to embody the very definition of American masculinity and honor became a lightning rod for debate about the nature and pace of change on gay rights.

In one sign, the Mormon church, the largest sponsor of Scouting troops and a past opponent of causes such as gay marriage, said in a statement it supported the decision and "moves forward in its association" with the Scouts. The General Commission on United Methodist Men, the second-largest Scouting sponsor, said it will continue to support the organization.

The issue still divides the 103-year-old organization, which had 2.7 million youth members and 1 million adult members as of Dec. 31.

John Stemberger, an Orlando lawyer who founded the group OnMyHonor.Net to oppose ending the ban, said at a press conference that the decision was "a travesty." He said the Scouts didn't consider risks to children and lawsuits that he thinks will ensue. His group and others that supported the ban on gays plan to meet next month to discuss the creation of a new youth group.

"This is the last time I wear this uniform," Mr. Stemberger said.

Sam Ray, a 53-year-old engineer and assistant scout master, said he planned to have a family talk to reconsider participation in Scouting. "We will not be able to do it anymore when they transform it into an advocacy group for something we don't believe in," said Mr. Ray, who lives in a Fort Worth, Texas, suburb.

Frank Page, President of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, didn't threaten to leave the Scouts, but said in a statement that the vote "ushers in a sea-change in the credibility" of the organization for believers "in the principles of biblical morality."

Gay-rights leaders applauded the move but described it as a partial step because it didn't include gay adults. "Today we found out that the Boy Scouts of America are the Boy Scouts for all America," said Zach Wahls, founder of the group Scouts for Equality. "But we still have a ways to go."

James Dale, a gay Scout leader whose lawsuit against the organization was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, said the Scouts "continued to embrace discrimination" by continuing to exclude gay adults.

The Scouts have been under pressure from swaths of its membership and some corporate sponsors to end the ban. Its executive council in February briefly considered letting troops develop their own gay-member policies, but decided to open the decision to longer public deliberation and a vote at the Annual meeting.

Corrections & Amplifications A caption in an earlier version of this story incorrectly said the photo depicted supporters of a proposal to end the youth ban. However, the photo depicted anti-gay activists.

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